Friendly Ghosts and Other non-Frightening Fall Decor

Ok....I deserve it....You can ALL say....Better late than never, Susan!  You bloggers always amaze me by being so on top of your decorating blogging. :)  Here we are coming up on Thanksgiving and I'm blogging about Halloween/Fall decorating.  

I like to decorate my mantels with books....and this cute purple book I found at a Garage Sale, about "Gus the FRIENDLY Ghost" fits right in.

Here's a view of the whole mantel.  I have a two-sided fireplace and this one faces the dining room.

Last year I received this cute Halloween card, I saved it knowing it would play a part in my decorating.  Maybe next year I'll get around to framing it.

More books and a raven pillow that was a gift from my neighbor decorate my living room mantle.

Originally the pillow was stark white...but since that doesn't fit into my color scheme, I tea dyed it to make it look older and more yellow.

No....I don't really have POISON, but I found some Martha Stewart bottle labels so I FORCED myself gladly drank  (with help, of course) a bottle of wine! (and yes that IS me holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa!)  Wonder Woman Watch Out!

I found this cute jack-o-lantern and black cat garland (made out of thin wood) last year and it's become one of my favorite pieces.

Sweet, plump little birds add to the nature theme.

More books....these are from my trip to Paris a year ago.  Since they are small and flat, they made great mementos of the trip to bring back with me.  I decorate with books all year long.  Do you?

Here's a view of the entire mantel.

My living room mantle is painted red.....on a deep purple wall.  What??!??!?!  Is it that obvious that I Like COLOR!  Ya'll have a great Thanksgiving!!

Fall Fever in Warrenton, TX

This year at Warrenton I decided to take mostly pictures of fall decorations, Halloween themes, skeletons, ghosts, witches, goblins, etc.  This pretty little Dia de los Muertos Skeleton kicks off the fall theme....even though it was about 90 degrees outside.  Sunny and 

Warm....that's a Texas Fall for you!

Chippy, rusted fire hydrant.....It fits just right in with the fall colors, doesn't it?

 We saw field after field of flying  metal witches and pumpkins.

 A kid-friendly metal pumpkin that would last for years and years.....budget minded---don't you think?

 Ever seen an ORANGE Flamingo?  With a witch hat, no less.....

 I'm always a sucker for a rusted bike.....this gives me a good idea for MY bike basket.

 I don't know German....but I know this is CUTE!

 LOVE this idea of masks for pumpkins. They were also selling hats and faux hands for them too.  

 Cute Scarecrow backdrop in a field of ruffled, metal pumpkins!

 SPOOKY!

 Pensive and Sweet Witch

 Corseted, Big-Eyed Witch!

 Wood Pumpkins and Cats

So.......did you get some good decorating ideas?  I love to see all the new ideas and the old, tried and true decorations.  Check back....I took some other pictures at Grand Ole Warrenton and I'll post those next.  

Happy Haunting!

Dog Day Afternoon!

To be such a little dog I love BIG STICKS!    WOW.......Look at THIS one.....WOOHOO!  I'm aghast! 

 GRRRRRR.....I really enjoying sinking my teeth into this one.........I can handle it! 

 Ahhhh....I've gotten it down to a manageable size.  Chomp, chomp, chomp! DEE-Licious!

 Boy, that was fun!  I wonder if Mom will notice if I try and sneak the rest of  this stick inside to gnaw on later?  Nahhhh....she always catches me. 

Happy Fall Ya'll.....Life is really good and I totally enjoyed my Big Stick!  What do you, or your pets, like to do outside on a pretty fall afternoon?

Fall Crafting---Martha Stewart Style

My crafty friends are at it again and we had so much fun today!  This month our hostess, Jennifer, found an easyMartha Stewart Video on creating temporary cobwebs on glassware. One of the tassel's made at last October craft day is part of the mantle decoration at Jenn's house.

She also has cute framed pictures of black cats, a spooky building and this boiling cauldron.  Easy, but super cute!

 You may remember Jenn's cake decorating skills from blogs past.  This time she made these tasty decorated sugar cookies for us.....YUMMMMMMMM.

We used cobweb stencils and taped them to the side of the glass ware,  then we painted or used paint pens to go over the lines of the webs.  This made the paint on the side that didn't come in contact with food and it was safe to use.  IF you wanted the cobweb to be permanent, you could use Porcelain Paint and then bake to make it permanent.  We opted for the wash off method.   

 

 And here we are with our finished products. 

 A quick look at the cute mantle decorations!

 Oh, and did I mention we got to make personal pizza's for lunch.  What's a craft day without food.......??

 And when I got home from Craft Day....my sweet cat Riley was basking in a little ray of sunshine she had found.....Too Cute! 

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

Fall in Texas!

My Scarecrow is up............we can now officially call it FALL.............even though the temps reached the low 90's today!  Even Carson is interested in the New Guy on the Porch!

Then we're going to watch a little football.  Here's some pics from last week.  My neighbor, Brandon (#8), plays for a small private school and is a "star" and just a really neat young man.

I love this photo of the team captains walking out for the coin toss.

This cute little cheerleader is at every game!

The school's so small that two football players miss out on the half time pep talk from the Coach to entertain the  fans!

AND there are two cheerleaders that due double duty too.

And here's Brandon and me after another winning game!  GO LUTHERAN HIGH NORTH!!!